Notes of the
EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY POLICY COUNCIL
David Sumler reported on the re-birth of the Information
Technology Board (ITB). After about 18
months of inactivity, it held its first meeting in December 2003. It met again on
It was announced that there will be a “Summit of State Networks” organized by the Maryland Office of Information Technology on March 15 from 9-3. For details, one should contact Richard Rose by e-mail. Presentations will be made by representatives of UMATS, SAILOR, network.Maryland, and the Maryland Department of Transportation.
The
There was discussion of inviting Robert Wallace and/or Ellis Kitchen to an ETPC meeting. It would be an opportunity to communicate ETPC’s agenda.
There was a discussion of legislative matters. Jody Kallis suggested that the ETPC support the legislation making the Maryland Digital Library a program of the Maryland Higher Education Commission. (SB 615, HB 1167). There was a consensus that this would be a good idea.
Julie Hamlin wondered whether those present thought that MarylandOnline should take a similar course in getting legislative recognition of MOL. There was discussion but no consensus.
There was discussion of SB 503, which would create a pilot program for supplying laptops to all students in two middle schools—one in Baltimore and one in Montgomery County. The purpose of the pilot program is to test wireless networks in the public school setting.
David Sumler reported that the
Pappas Commission Report had been issued. He circulated the Report. He noted the following recommendations from
the section titled “Harness
1. Establish a permanent State Chief
Technology Officer
To
ensure that the development of advanced technology business remains a high
priority
within the Department of Business and Economic Development, the
Governor should create a permanent State Chief Technology Officer within DBED,
with direct report to the Secretary.
2. Increase utilization and
effectiveness of
Establish
a better working relationship with the Technology Councils across the State amongst
themselves, State Agencies, and State Government.
3. Encourage entrepreneurial
initiatives and technology transfer
The
University System of Maryland should review, revise and clarify the regulations
and practices relating to intellectual property (IP) ownership,
indemnification, and other legal and administrative risk issues to ensure that
the practices of the State of
4. Support the State’s incubator network with capital and operating funds for best practices
The
State should support and expand its existing business incubator network through
increased capital and operating funding. This funding should be tied to the
implementation of national best practices.
5.
To
encourage public universities to attract more research dollars to Maryland, the
Governor, with cooperation of the University System of Maryland and other
institutions of higher education, should develop a legislative package to
reform the state laws, rules and regulations concerning the expenditure
associated with research at Maryland’s public universities but not funded by
the state, specifically those sections governing procurement and personnel
matters.
6.
The
State should increase its support for pre-seed technology development via the
TEDCO university technology development fund (UTDF), expand the Maryland
Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) program funding, and create new
multi-institutional centers of excellence targeted to developing world-class
research focused on specific federal and private funding opportunities in areas
of importance to the economic development of
7. Encourage
Develop
a Maryland-based forum that enables consortia of universities, government labs
and the private sector to more competitively respond to large-scale federal
funding opportunities.
8. Create alternative financing
vehicles to create more laboratory space at
Maryland’s
higher education institutions should work with the State to develop alternative
capital construction financing models to construct additional laboratory (lab)
space, acquire additional lab equipment, and expand university research parks
by reforming the State of Maryland and Board of Public Works (BPW) regulations
to encourage public/private partnerships, and support Congressional efforts to
increase flexibility in federal real estate transactions.
9. Promote increased coordination at
University and college tech transfer offices
The
technology transfer offices of
David reported that the MHEC would be re-writing the State
Plan for Higher Education over the summer.
The effort would begin in earnest after the end of the legislative
session and would be completed around
Julie Hamlin reported that MOL is stable and beginning to concentrate on marketing its services. It is beginning a teacher education initiative to offer the Associate of Arts in Teaching online. This will be a multi-institutional activity of the community colleges.
Julie proposed that the ETPC re-new contacts with Delegate Barve. It was decided that she, Richard Rose and David Sumler would try to meet with Del. Barve and give him a copy of the proposal for a “Digital Learning Act.” Jody Kallis suggested it might be better to bring this up as part of the State Plan discussions; since the time in this legislative session for new bills and budget requests had passed. There was agreement that the contact could not hurt. So Julie agreed to try to arrange the meeting.
The next meeting of the ETPC is scheduled for Thursday,
March 25. However, this may change
depending on when a meeting can be scheduled with Robert Wallace, Chair of the
ITB. Tom Glaser is working on this. The
meeting will probably be at